The road to a supersonic business jet has been excruciatingly slow, and most who have taken a stab at developing one over the last four decades have either folded, used the venture to secure government research grants, or relegated it to the back burner in favor of more economically expedient projects.

The Dassault Falcon 8X business jet is due to enter service in the second half of 2016. The French manufacturer is conducting a series of demonstration flights to prove that all aspects of its performance are as they should be. One of the first flights brought CEO Eric Trappier to New York to visit Dassault’s U.S. headquarters, where he spoke to Business Jet Traveler.

As Gulfstream develops the G600 business jet, the company’s designers have been working to refine the cabin. The designers depend on feedback from customers and crew, and with the G600 they have used that feedback to help them develop a comfortable, ergonomically optimized space. The company provides

Manufacturers and writers often attach the word “revolutionary” to new aircraft, but the forthcoming AW609 tiltrotor from Finmeccanica’s AgustaWestland really deserves the label. The aircraft takes off and lands like a helicopter yet can achieve forward speeds of around 275 knots, on par with a fast turboprop airplane.

In October 2014, Gulfstream Aerospace formally launched two large-cabin jets designed to replace its G450 and G550 models: the G500 and the G600. The top speed for both aircraft is Mach 0.925, the same as for Gulfstream’s G650ER. With the introduction of the G500 and G600, all of the company’s large-cabin models will pay homage to the need for speed.

Five and eight may be small numbers, but Airbus is betting they’ll represent a big difference for its new A350-900 XWB (extra wide body). The model is five inches wider and, claims the manufacturer, 8 percent more fuel-efficient than Boeing’s 787, with which it will compete in the long-haul, twinjet market. In 2018, Airbus expects to introduce a stretched version of the aircraft, the A350-1000, to go head-to-head with Boeing’s even larger 777 twinjet.

Lots of products boast of being the biggest and most advanced, but Dassault’s new large-cabin 5X twinjet really delivers on those claims. Among other things, it changes the standard for cabin comfort, aircraft performance and ease of maintenance. And it provides an impressive template for follow-on aircraft.

Pages

Quote/Unquote

“Um, private jets? I have such a hard time flying commercial. I always want to—it’s cheaper, it’s easier—but there can be 300 perfectly lovely people at the gate and one crazy person who
ruins it for everyone, so flying private is great because I don’t have to worry.”
”